This undated handout photo provided by the Culture Ministry shows restored sections of the Mycenaean fortification walls at the acropolis of Glas. [Handout/Culture Ministry]
A three-year conservation and restoration project has been completed on Greece’s biggest and least understood Mycenaean acropolis, contributing to experts’ knowledge of Bronze Age building techniques, authorities said Thursday.
The Culture Ministry said the works at Glas near Orchomenos, some 115 kilometers northeast of Athens, are intended to make the sprawling site more accessible and understandable to visitors.
While worse preserved and less impressive than its contemporary citadels of Mycenae and Tiryns in the Peloponnese, Glas is much larger, virtually unknown to the general public and more mysterious. It’s linked with a massive engineering feat carried out 3,300 years ago that converted Lake Copais, which initially lapped round it, into rich farmland.
“Our aim is to gradually and systematically showcase the acropolis of Glas so that it can be visited and comprehended by the broader public, as it is comparable to the great Mycenaean centers of the Peloponnese,” Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said.
The work was carried out on the citadel’s south gate – one of the four main and two secondary entrances – and a section of the three-kilometer circuit wall, which was built using huge stone blocks in the hallmark Cyclopean style of Mycenaean fortifications.
Experts were able to investigate the core and the foundations of the walls, in a rare opportunity to study and understand Mycenaean architects’ techniques.
“The experience and know-how gained from this project are a valuable legacy for the overall management, conservation and restoration of our Mycenaean heritage,” Mendoni said.
The site, on a low, flat hill rising from the northwestern end of the Copaic plain, dates to the 13th century BC and is contemporary with the nearby drainage works. It probably served as a maintenance center for the land reclamation works and a grain store. Both the site and the drainage works were only used for a few decades and then abandoned, for reasons that remain little understood.
Not even the acropolis’ original name has survived – Glas is rooted in an Albanian word – though a tentative link has been made with the ancient Arne mentioned by Homer in the Iliad.
After the site was abandoned the surrounding area gradually reverted to wetlands and was only fully drained in 1931, following a 50-year effort.